The White Jasime's Howl
by KidaNeeChan
Summary: The Earth Nation is looking high for the next avatar, but not so much low as they allow a small, timid, air bending child born to the poorest of the poor in Ba Sing Sae to fall out of their sight.
1. Formation

The White Jasmine's Howl

Part 1: Introspection

Chapter 1: Formation

A small girl cowered in an alley, hidden by mounds or trash, her tiny body shook as she sobbed. Her vision blurred for the tears and the stench, "I so, so scared," She barely managed to expel her words into the night air, "I-I need help." She took a sharp intake of breath, "som-me-on-ne." Her shaky voice was so quite no one passing by on the street could hear her and there wasn't a single adult that looked into the dark alley, even if they had they would not have seen her ball like form.

"You called?" A middle aged woman's voice whispered.

The girls head snapped up from her knees and looked at the woman suddenly before her, this middle aged woman seemed to glow. All the tiny girl could manage was a strangled squeak before pushing herself away from the new woman and deep into the pile of trash.

"Now, now don't be like that." The middle aged woman knelt beside the trash covered girl, "If you ask for help the right way I will always be able to help you." This woman seemed to have been tan even though her skin seemed to be glowing in a strange hue of blue.

"I-ah-I um…" the young girl tried to inhale through her still falling tears, "lost."

"You're not that lost," the woman gently smiled, the crows feet under her eyes spread, she then pointed to the busy street, "get on the road and walk straight until you recognize where you are. I will walk with you." The woman got back to her feet and seemed to float back several steps. "Wipe your tears Liling."

The trash covered girl took another deep sob before rubbing her eyes with her grimy hands and smearing a sticky brown fluid on her pale cheeks and in her pure black hair. This small girl then crawled out from the pile of trash onto the uneven cobble stone, her green dress becoming more and more filth covered.

Following the glowing woman the young, barefooted, girl staggered along with tears occasionally filling her vision once again. The glow of the shops gradually decreased as did the number of people the girl had to doge when finally she realized where she was. She quickly turned to look back at the kind glowing woman.

She had vanished.

The young girl titled her head and cuddled her grimy hands close to her chest before backing away from where the glowing woman had stood and towards a dark collection of dark buildings.

She snaked through them, carefully stepping over trash strewn on the gravel she approached a hut and stepped in through the open entrance.

"Oh Liling, you were out?" a boy asked. He stood holding a pan of steaming water and was just a couple years older than Liling, "Ugh, your covered in filth."

"Mm, Mom?" Liling squeaked looking to a corner of the hut, several people gathered obscuring a person laying down.

"It hasn't been born yet," The boy stated flatly and walked with the water towards the group.

Seconds later a woman's scream filled the hut, other women chanting "Breathe! Breathe!" an elderly woman screaming "Don't push! The head's-!"

The small, three-year-old Liling buried her head in her knees and her ears under her hands as she curled into a ball in the opposite corner. The screaming had started at high noon and had not ceased even as the sun had set. Liling dozed between the fits of screaming throughout the night and with dawn light screams of horror filled the room. Loud slaps echoed until finally a soft, whimpering, moan could be heard to the sighing crowd.

Every detail of that night burned into Liling as her first true memory.

But years pass and children age.

"What is.. bending?" the five-year-old Liling whispered to her oldest sister who was holding her hand.

"It's a power that people like us will never deserve," her nine-year-old sister stated, "Oh!" she interjected, letting go of Liling's hand, "I just found my friend, you can make it to the bridge right?" Not even pausing for an answer she stuffed a bag into Liling's arms and ran towards her friend. Leaving Liling to stand in the middle of the street.

Liling bumbled through the street, side stepping the hustle she slowly made it to the bridge with her eyes firmly fixed on the cobble stones and her dirty bear feet. Finally she made it, the bridge was made of stone and had only a slight ridge along the side. She found her oldest brother, the same boy that had been holding the pan of hot water the night of her youngest brother's birth. He sat along the ridge with a collection of stones on a battered cloth and boy his age laughing, standing around him.

He noticed Liling, "Where's MingChi?" referring to their older sister.

Liling starred at the ground and poked it with her big toe.

"Whatever," he sighed, "Did mom make me lunch?"

"Mhm" Liling nodded and handed him a brown cloth bag.

"Cabbage again? We haven't eaten anything other than that in at least three weeks." He groaned opening a small box within the bag revealing a small bowl and a pair of chopsticks.

"At least you get something," one of the other boys laughed, "I haven't had a midday meal in at least three weeks." He slapped Liling on the back in good humor.

Liling squeaked and lost her balance, and stumbled forward before regaining herself. Tears flowed from her eyes, not from pain or embarrassment but in fear of this non-family older boy.

"Hey, don't be beating up Liling," her brother casually called as he stuck his chop sticks into a small bowl of stir fried cabbage.

"Sorry, sorry," the boy laughed, "A girl as small as Liling is just fun to tease, watch:" he stated, laughing before pushing Liling hard into the shoulder. Completely forgetting their location.

Her foot caught in the small ledge as she stumbled backwards from the slight push, her knees buckled and her back leaned over the bridge before gravity took over and pushed her the rest of way off the bridge. She held her hand out desperately grasping the air as her brother rocketed to his feet and tried to launch towards her.

As he disappeared from her view she glanced down to the approaching stone ground below her, screamed and quickly brought her arms down to her sides.

A burst of air blasted from Liling's movement and shot her back up to the bridge, she reached out and this time her brother was there to grasp her hands and pull her back onto the safety of the bridge.

Liling clung to her brother and cried, outside of her realm of focus, below the bridge, a man was screaming out his cabbage stand being destroyed by the gust of air to the gathering crowd cheering about a new air bender in Ba Sing Sae.

A few days later following rumors that has spread like wild fire of an air bender in the outer ring a group of three men clothed in deep blue robes and white helmets, one of the men carried a large bag on his back and the shortest man with the largest helmet knocked on the wall bordering the opening where a door would be if only the hut had one. "Hello, we are of the White Lotus," he called into the dark hut.

"Yes!" Liling's mother smiled, "Lord White Lotus Officers, I apologies for the humble state for this hutch, but I sincerely appreciate this visit." She knelled and bowed with her nose touching the floor.

The White Lotus Officers stepped into the hut. "Please raise your head. We have come hearing a rumor of a young airbender." His gaze settled on a small two-year-old boy that sat in the corner without regard for the strangers that had entered his home he stuffed his fist into his mouth.

"Again, I apologize, my youngest was a hard birth, and has never spoken a word." She stated noticing the man's gaze, she motioned to the corner behind the officers, "His older sister, Liling, is also very quiet but she is the one you seek."

Liling stood with her gaze focused on her bare feet, her toes fiddling with her other foots toes with her hands held behind her back.

The officer looked back to Liling's mother, "You understand she is of the right age to be the new avatar and we must test her?" he half asked.

"I have heard that the Avatars are born leaders, my daughter is so timid and scared of her own shadow I can guarantee there is no possible of her being such an important person."

"Still we must test." The main officer stated and one of the two other men approached Liling with a bag.

"Liling, would you like a toy? You can grab four of them." He quietly stated and unfurled a large blue cloth.

Liling brought her arms to her chest and pressed her body into the corner with a slight squeak.

"Liling, please look at the toys," he smiled at her calmly.

Liling shock her head and tears flowed from her eyes.

He picked a couple of the toys up and waved them around in front of Liling's face, each time she violently shock her head and cried without making much noise. Eventually the man sighed and stood. "This isn't going to work. I don't think Liling's the one."

"Ah well, she still should be trained by the air nomads, if that is okay with the mother?" The shortest man spoke and turned back to Liling's mother.

"Yes! Please!" she clasped her hands together.

Liling cried quietly, "Mom?"

Liling's mother embraced her, "You're going to go with these nice men. You will be able to eat more than just cabbage and rice. You will be able to have shoes, a roof that doesn't leak, a bed without bugs, a bed you don't have to share, chances to bathe, you will have the best life of all my children," She then pulled away slightly and looked into Liling's tear eyes with her own teary eyes. "I want what is best for you, and this is it. I love you, Daddy loves you, all your brothers and sisters love you. We will always be here for you but for now go with the White Lotus."

Liling's mother sniffed and stood hugging her tiny five-year-old daughter, walked over to the three men and handed Liling to the man who had not spoken during the meeting. "Mom! Mom! Mommy!" Liling screamed from the strong arms. Her mother once again bowed with her face to the floor, the men not holding onto Liling returned her bow and all three departed.

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><p><em>AN: Thank you to my good friend (SimpleAngel42 on wattpad) for helping me develop Liling and many of the future characters as well as helping guide me to more interesting future twists. I hope you all Enjoy this post-Avatar-Korra story. Please R&R if you have the time, all criticisms are appreciated._


	2. Interaction

The White Jasmine's Howl

Part 1: Introspection

Chapter 2: Interaction

"So, Fu Fen, how is that new roommate of yours working out?" A fifteen year old girl, Ru, sitting on the floor at a long table in a sparsely packed, large dining hall, asked the slightly older teen beside her.

Fu Fen, an abnormally tall a young woman of seventeen, with most of her scalp exposed to reveal a light blue arrow tattoo, its pointed end rested on her forehead but the long arm ran along her skull and the center of her neck until they vanished beneath her yellow collar. In front of either ear a thin, brown braid extended down to her collar bones. She leaned back with her hands grasping the table and looked up to the high ceiling of the dining hall with brown eyes, "Well… It's only been a week since she moved here from the eastern temple but she's really quite."

"I noticed that much about her, but _what_ kind of quite?" Ru asked, poking Fu Fen's head arrow tattoo. "The usual, better than us," Ru stuck her nails forward, raised her nose upward and took a formal accent_, "'I'm from the eastern air temple, this place isn't spiritual enough for me. All these air bison leave a horrible aroma in the air, how can anyone bend such a putrid sent?" _she wafted her hand in front of her nose to chase an imaginary sent away.

"I never said putrid!" a middle aged woman with the same accent the teen had just faked yelled three tables away.

The teen and Fu Fen ignored the uproar, "No, I just don't really know. She doesn't have Chin Wi's superiority complex, but—"

"I do not have a superiority complex!" the accented middle aged woman yelled.

"It's as though if she just vanished and never had to speak to anyone ever again it couldn't be soon enough for her." Fu Fen Finished

"Why are you saying I should 'just vanish?'"Chin Wi shouted and stood.

"We weren't talking about you, Chin Wi!"Ru shouted back.

Chin Wi's right eye twitched multiple times before she sat down and faced her personal table that seated a grand total of six middle aged, tattooed air benders.

Outside the dining hall, two levels higher, a very short teenage girl sat, her feet dangling off the upside down roof. She ate an apple as she stared to the opposite cliff. On clearly sunny days, like this day, the opposing cliff was visible and the start of fall foliage danced in a waves of warm colors. The girl's eyes were the color of spring leaf buds and her pure black hair was pulled back into a large bun with two strands exiting the bottom of the bun brushed against the back of her neck.

A yellow dragonfly bunny spirit with a green, four pointed star across its face as a substitute for a nose nuzzled the short girl's neck. She smiled and with her free hand she gently rubbed it's head.

"Liling? What are you doing?"

Liling chocked on her apple at the sudden call of an elderly woman. After several violent coughs she finally answered, "Eating?"

"An apple? That wasn't what the acolytes prepared for us today. In fact I'm certain that it was a cabbage dish…" The heavily robbed woman stepped out from a window onto the upside down roof, her gray hair was shaved down the line of her arrow tattoo and pulled into a low bun hidden within a yellow cloth on either side. "Did you steal an apple from the kitchen?" she smiled.

Liling looked down to the cavern below obscured by mist and took another bite of her apple.

"Do you mind if I join you?" The older woman asked, Liling shrugged. "Do have any plan on socializing with any of the other air benders?"

Liling slowly finished chewing her apple, "Monk Ikki, I… talking to people… It's… um…" she scratched her forehead and did not complete her sentence.

There was a long pause as the elder waiting fruitlessly for Liling to finish. "Monk Jinora once told me you were her pride, The only person beside herself and the previous avatar to be able to enter the spirit world. She felt it was part for your closed off nature that enabled you to journey beyond, however by closing yourself off form people you have created a great unbalance within yourself."

Liling started nibbling close to the apple core, staring off into space.

"You were sent here to practice your bending with the aid of the ever present winds within this caverns, here we study as groups of peers, have you been asking questions?"

Liling closed her eyes and shock her head.

"Do you have any questions you want to ask me?"

Several moments of silence passed before Liling whispered, "Why should I... strive to be an air master?"

Monk Ikki adjusted her wooden necklace carved with the symbol of the air nation, "I can see the potential to be one of the world's greatest air benders radiating off of you, for you not fall short of what you are capable is one of the most disheartening things I can imagine. However, at the end of the day, it will be your choice and your effort in what you achieve. But if that is not what you want for your life, then you should strive to learn what you can from every experience grow as a person until you find a place where you feel at place…"Ikki trailed off.

Liling threw her apple core below and watched it vanish into the mist, "I should probably…" Liling mumbled, grasping the roof to lift herself off, "be-" Liling pushed slightly and the stone beneath her hand crumbled, she lost her balance and started free falling.

Time seemed to slow for Liling, she heard Monk Ikki scream her name and noticed her get to her feet. Her heart got caught in her throat as she fell, her throat felt choked. Liling looked down at the approaching stone roof, her hands quickly started to circle on instinct. A ball of air formed with in her hands and moments before impact her forced the ball before her to cushion her fall. It mostly worked, she still fell hard on her hands and knees, but with only as much force as if she had fallen walking.

Ikki soon landed beside her in a much more controlled manner, "Are you okay?" Ikki grasped Liling's yellow sleeved arm and pulled her to her feet.

Liling's face turned bright red, and she looked from Ikki to the gathering crowd within the dining hall. "Heh.. heh…. Yeah…." Liling took a deep swallow, "Excuse me," she bowed respectfully to Ikki and took off running.

"Fu Fen, you have one high maintenance roommate," Ru sighed and crossed her arms watching Liling's retreating figure turn around the corner of the building.

Fu Fen returned to their table and collected her dishes and handed them an acolyte towards the exit of the room, she briefly spoke to the acolytes who walked into the kitchen for a brief moment and returned with a red object. Fu Fen then headed into the stone labyrinth, navigating both up and down hundreds of stairs eventually she reached a door which she gently knocked three times.

"I'm okay…." A small voice whimpered.

Fu Fen opened the door, "Are you sure? That didn't sound too 'okay'."

Liling sat on her bed with her head cradled between her arms, knees to her chest and her back was covered in a yellow and orange blanket, the Dragonfly bunny spirit was curled ina ball beside her feet. Her face was red and tear streaked, "Yeah…. I'm fine."

Fu Fen sat down on her own hard bed, cushioned only slightly by the comforter, "What happened?"

"I fell…" Liling mumbled.

Fu fen starred at Liling and watched her hands tremble, "You're shaking, was the fall that scary?"

"Just… embarrassing…"

"Okay, well… here," Fu Fen gently grasped Liling's small hand and placed a red apple. "I didn't see you in the dining hall. Being hungry leads to accidents. Once you've calmed down enough you can eat it. Would you like me to leave now?"

Liling nodded.

"Okay then. We're having an air scooter race once everyone's stomachs settle. The others are eager to try and talk to you," Fu Fen stated, walking towards the door.

"Um…" Liling mumbled, causing Fu Fen turned around, "Thank you."

"Sure thing," Fu Fen smiled and exited the stone room.

Once the door had securely shut Liling examined her apple free hand, "Hey Kino?"

The yellow spirit beside her squeaked.

"Why does strange things involving rocks keep happening to me? Am I cursed or something?" Liling's hand was covered in the residue from the stone roof. "Do you think they would laugh at me if I told them I didn't know how to make an air scooter…?" Kino nuzzled her shoulder.

Liling dusted her hand off and ate her second apple of the day in silence.

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><p><em>AN: Thank you for reading, I am not above begging for reviews so please review, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a wonderful day._


	3. Exertion

The White Jasime's Howl

Part 1: Introspection

Chapter 3: Exertion

Hours passed and Liling waited until she was sure that the air scooter races would have ended before she rose from under her comforter, tucked the sleeping dragonfly rabbit spirit in and headed into the stone maze. Even though the maze was somewhat underground it felt as though the fresh air flowed through with a slight nip of the quickly approaching fall evening. The tunneled paths were lit by the windows carved into the wall side at regular intervals, the floor was flat and well cleaned thanks to the acolytes but the wall without windows and the ceiling was un evenly carved and rounded.

Liling walked, until she reached a corner, which she slowly peaked around the first before heading down. Not a single person was in the hallways, they were mostly likely in the dining hall for dinner, just like Liling preferred it. Finally she reached an exit that took her to an open cliff shelf, it was out of the way and one of the first places Liling had found when she moved to the western air temple earlier in the week.

"Okay," she sighed. She stretched her legs, her back and her arms before spreading her legs wide and swirling her hands on top each other. "Ball, ball, ball…." She whispered as she spun her hands faster and faster. A ball of air started to form with in her grasp, she smiled and in a quick motion tried to place it from her hand to the ground with one of her feet in it, by the time her foot got there the remains of air was gone.

She sighed, resumed her stance and spun the air once again. Only to fail again, again and again. Each time she sighed and tried again. After several more failures she started having to wipe the sweat off her forehead and the uncomfortable feeling of tears in her eyes.

Again and again and again she tried.

"Your stance is to wide," a voice called from behind.

Liling's air ball disintegrated from her hands and she jumped to turn the voice.

"You're hard to find, you know?" It was Fu Fen standing by the cave entrance with a small smile. "You know, if you keep skipping meals you're never going to grow any?"

"I'm…." Liling started but just mumbled inaudibly to herself.

Fu Fen stood beside Liling, "To make the air scooter you stand with just a slightly large base of support, you want to have just enough to shift your weight back and forth." She then demonstrated at which Liling imitated. "Now, we start making an air ball…" Fu Fen slowly demonstrated and spoke the steps to Liling.

After a couple more attempts a solid air ball formed within Liling's hands.

"There we go, now we step onto it with one foot like this…" again Fu Fen demonstrated at which Liling attempted but fell off. "That's okay, that happens to everyone on their first try," Fu Fen smiled.

Liling rubbed the dust off her face and created the ball and when she stepped onto it she was spun off and landed on her back towards the edge of the cliff shelf. "Ugh," She moaned, before standing up and dusting herself off and trying once again.

Fu Fen again walked her through how to get on the ball and demonstrated. The two repeated the exchange without Liling saying a true word, just trying more and more. Finally, Liling managed to stay on the ball, she used she tiny hands to cover her mouth as she made a strange garbled noise between a cry and a laugh.

"To move…" Fu Fen explained and demonstrated. It was a process of shifting weight in the desired direction.

Liling leaned forward slightly and at full speed rammed into the cliff wall, so hard she lift an awkward body print in the wall.

"Uhh do you want to keep going or is that enough for tonight?" Fu Fen asked, looking up to the moon and stars in the clear sky, watching her breath rise.

Liling peeled herself from the wall and dusted her face off again, "Uhm… Fu… Fen…." She looked down at the ground and twiddled her feet. "Thank you…" and then bowed respectfully.

"Sure if you ever need anything, just ask." Fu Fen grabbed her stomach, "Right now, I think I need some food though," she laughed, "Oh I hope the acolytes will humor me and give me some food." Fu Fen started walking towards the entrance to the tunnels, "I'm not begging by myself, common." She waved towards Liling.

Liling turned on her heels towards the entrance away from the wall and the ground came up to welcome her and enclose her feet. "Gwah!" she squeaked before bending at the knees and falling on her butt, "Oh ow, ow, ow…." She whine stuck in an uncomfortable position.

Fu Fen came running over, "What happened?"

"Feet… stuck…" Liling moaned trying to readjust herself.

Fu Fen pulled Liling back up off her bottom before examining her feet. It stone of the cliff shelf had twisted itself over her feet and locked them in place, "I saw this once before…." She mumbled, knocking on the hard stone, "It's an earth bending technique… I saw it when I was traveling in the earth kingdom and a friend asked me to spare….You we literally just air bending…. How is something like this even possible?" Fu Fen started pulling on Liling's calf trying to get the foot free. "Something Like this should be impossible."

Liling was trying to throw herself into pulling her foot free.

"No one has found the avatar yet, but if they are alive they should be an earth bender, not an air bender…" Fu Fen grumbled and then stopped pulling on Liling's calf."Wait! THAT'S IT!"

Fu Fen hopped up to her feet and clasped Liling's hands, "You're eyes are green right? So you were born with earth nation blood. You've got to be the missing avatar right?!"

Liling looked away from Fu Fen's star struck gaze, "They… the white lotus…. Tested me…. Before I came…. To air nation…. They said it was… impossible."

"You can _both_ air bend _and_ earth bend there is no other living person in the world that can do that other than the avatar!" Fu Fen was basically jumping, holding onto Liling's hands and staring at her face.

Liling just shook her head, continued to try pulling her feet free and have Fu Fen release her grasp. Too much touching going on, and too little personal space present. "I'm… not…." She whispered.

"Yes you are! Your feet is the proof! Oh my god, we should get someone, _I _should get someone. Head monk Ikki would know what to do, her grandfather was the avatar and so was one of her best friends." Fu Fen released Liling's hands and started backing towards the tunnels, "Just a second.."

"NO!" Liling shouted , tears in her eyes, "No, No, please… no… just… No," tears streaming down her face. "I just want to be unnoticed…. Please.. don't tell anyone…" she sobbed and awkwardly squatted with her feet still imprisoned in stone.

Fu Fen stopped heading towards the tunnels and slowly walked back to Liling, "Are you sure, you don't want me to get someone who will understand?" and she knelt to be eye level with Liling.

Liling had covered her eyes, she was sniffed loudly, "mhm.." she moaned and nodded.

Fu Fen sighed, "I'm sorry, I lost myself there. Let's get your feet out."

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><p><em>AN: Who's ready for eight to twelve inches of snow and below zero wind chills before thanks giving? Not this girl! I should have been studying instead of writing this… Oh well. I hope to have the next chapter ready Thursday evening after exams and while I wait to pick up the new Pokémon game coming out on Friday. Not sure when the next update will come after that… I appreciate you taking the time to read this and I sincerely appreciate any and all feedback. Thank you. _


	4. Discussion

The White Jasmine's Howl

Part One: Introspection

Chapter Four: Discussion

The next morning Fu Fen woke in her room alone. She scratched her bald head before getting out of bed and heading to the dinning hall. In the dinning room she found Liling eating silently in the corner. "Good morning, why did you wake me?"

Liling shrugged.

"How are your feet feeling? It took a lot of force to get them free..." Fu Fen asked, Liling hurried the pace of her eating and refused to answer.

"Someone is going to choke," Ru walked with two meals, one in either hand. She then placed one in front of Fu Fen before sitting herself beside Fu Fen and also facing Liling. "Did Fu Fen ask you something inappropriate?" Ru asked. Dead serious.

Liling choked on a large onion wedge.

"Ru, I am not you," Fu Fen stated in a dead pan voice.

Ru leaned across the table near Liling's ear, "Between you and me Fu Fen really likes to know who's being getting it on, she's a total perv."

"Ru I can hear you, and you're talking about yourself," Fu Fen sighed.

Liling's face was beat red for lack of oxygen and the topic Ru had thrown into the open.

Ru closed her hazel eyes and pointed to the ceiling, "Air is the element of freedom young air benders. Freedom of all things which bind us to this world."

Liling returned to attempting to eat, though her throat was sore now.

"Liling, have I ever introduced myself? I'm Ru. I was born two day's before Fu Fen so this brat has always been a throne in my side." Ru pointed with her thumb, jabbing Fu Fen's cheek.

"Who's a thorn in whose side again?"

Liling had finished her food by the point, grabbed her plates and left the table. "Excuse me," she whispered.

"Awww. You scared her away," Ru moaned before popping a clump of rice into her face.

"You did when you started talking about inappropriate things," Fu Fen took a sip of her tea.

"Nah she was pretty much trying to run away from you before I got here. I was right though. " Ru gave a small laugh, "She did choke."

Fu Fen hit Ru with a closed fist on the back of her head.

A little bit later Fu Fen once again found Liling outside, "Liling!" she called and ran over. Liling stopped petting her yellow dragonfly bunny spirit. "Do you want to work on the air scooter a little bit more?"

Liling hugged the spirit, and bowed, "Excuse me," she whispered again, before walking back inside the tunnels.

Lunch time soon came and once again Fu Fen found Liling, "There you are."

Liling tensed up as Fu Fen, followed by Ru sat down in front of her.

"Wow we found you twice in one day," Ru smiled and dug into her meal.

"After lunch, Chin Wi will be talking about an air benders duty to the spirit world, you might enjoy it."

"Are you kidding me?" Ru glared at Fu Fen, "Chin Wi would eat Liling as a snack. She'd go:" Ru cleared her throat and took on a silly accent with her nose in the air, "_You there, minding your own business in the back. Why don't you come forward and share your opinion with everyone else. This is an..." _Ru paused for dramatic effect, _"...INTERACTIVE discussion."_ Ru then looked around the dinning hall, "Looks like she's not here for lunch yet. But anyway every lecture Chin Wi's given she find that one quite person and ripes them in front of everyone else, '_builds character._' I think she just doesn't like people who are quite... Or not paying attention..." Ru added as a second thought.

"I never have the problem, after all I pay attention." Fu Fen glared.

Liling was desperately trying to finish her food, and a a pair of chop sticks entered her vision, they grabbed a cabbage roll. Liling looked up to see Ru stuffing it into her face.

"You were avoiding it, do you like cabbage?" Ru asked with a full mouth.

Liling shrugged.

Ru, snatched the plate of cabbage rolls away from Liling and replaced it with a bowl of sweet potatoes that had been stir fried.

Liling smiled slightly before eating the sweet potatoes. Then once she had finished she cleaned her plates, "Excuses me," she whispered and bowed.

"That girl is defiantly running away from you, Fu Fen. I Don;t know what hs gotten into you, but chill a bit," Ru took a bit of another cabbage roll, "Hey, you know, I don't like cabbage roll either, wanna help me?" Ru pushed the food towards Fu Fen.

Liling chose to hid within her room, she sat on her bed with her comforter over her head and she looked into Kino's eyes, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and exhaled.

When she reopened her eyes she was standing beside her body and Kino was suddenly taller that Liling was, "Wanna fly me to the sacred chamber?"

Kino purred and placed her head, which was now twice the size of Liling's against her stomach. "Of course," Liling laughed and rubbed vigorously behind Kino's ears, and under her chin. Kino slapped the ground with her hind legs rapidly. "Okay, Sweetie, lets go." Liling eased off the petting and hopped onto Kino's back as though kino were a horse and Kino's yellow dragonfly ears rapidly beat to take off.

They phased through walls and rooms and entered a room filled with golden statues. Liling dismounted and examined the faces of the avatars on the lower levels. She glanced at an airbending woman who had chosen male patterned baldness as her hair style, a male water bender covered in animal furs, a tall woman with strange face paint and several decorations on her head, "Kiyoshi..." Liling mumbled out loud. The next was an elderly man with long hair from the fire nation, followed by a male air bender with a beard around the rim of his face, finally Liling found a a middle aged woman with chin length hair grouped into various clumps with beads, she was a full two heads taller than Liling and looked as though she had been made out of pure muscle.

"Korra..." Liling again mumbled to herself. Her heart was pulled towards the statue and the face was vaguely familiar as though she had once met before, "I can't be another version of you. I can't be any of the people enshrined here. I am tiny, clumsy, unable to speak, worthless.. The avatar is a great person, they lead, they are wise, they are skilled and powerful... If I can't be you then why can I both earth bend _and _air bend?"

Liling took a deep breath and placed her hand to her chest, "There must be something wrong with me right? Are you all hanging out someplace in the spirit world laughing at me? Laughing at this strange duckling that airbends and clumsily trips?!"

There was no sound within the room but Liling floated in front of the statue for hours. Just waiting for something. Anything.

Eventually Liling boarded Kino and floated back to her room, Fu Fen was sitting on the opposite bed reading."Oh your back?" She asked noticing the change in Liling's breathing.

"mh..." Liling answered.

"I have been thinking, and wanting to tell you this, literality, all day." Fu Fen folded her book and sat up properly. "I think for some reason the order you are supposed to learn bending got messed up. Eath, fire, air water... Right? What if you and I go to monk Ikki, ask her for permission to go on a nomadic journey. We don't have to tell her _all_ the details. Then, as we journey we find you at the very least an earth bending teacher."

"uh... Um, let me... Think about... It... For a while," Liling whispered.

_A/N: It has been a very hard week so I apologize that each chapter seems to be shrinking. This was written on my father's computer which doesn't have word and it's grammar checks I have become accustomed to. _

_I love Ru._

_I sincerely appreciate all reviews and the time you have taken to read this fic. Thank you. _


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